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006

You Can Just Learn Things

21/05/2025

Pete Winn, Andy David

Pete and Andy dive into how AI is reshaping education, making it more personal, project-driven, and permissionless. From kids launching businesses with AI to learning to code through hands-on projects, they explore how curiosity is outpacing credentials.

As traditional systems struggle to keep up, AI is making one-to-one, self-directed learning accessible to anyone. In this new world, you don’t wait to be taught, you can just learn things.

Description

Pete and Andy explore how AI is transforming education and learning, discussing the future of traditional education systems, the power of self-directed learning, and how AI can democratize access to high-quality personalized education.


AI and the Future of Learning (02:50-05:43)

  • Discussion about what kids should study in a rapidly changing job market

  • Pete's children are developing entrepreneurial skills with AI support

  • The "Teddy Fashion Boutique" business Pete's daughter has created

  • Exploring game development with AI for Pete's son's tabletop gaming interests

Rethinking Traditional Education (05:43-10:30)

  • Critique of the industrial-era "assembly line" approach to education

  • The importance of play-based and child-led learning approaches

  • How AI can enable a shift from classroom instruction to personalized mentoring

  • Questioning the value of traditional education when information costs approach zero

Personal Learning Journeys with AI (10:30-16:17)

  • Both hosts share how they've recently learned coding with AI assistance

  • How AI provides the patience and personalization needed to build learning momentum

  • The importance of having projects you're motivated to build rather than abstract learning

  • Using GitHub commit tracking as a way to gamify the learning process

The Intelligent Assembly Line of Education (16:17-20:30)

  • School structure mimics industrial assembly line format (8 hours/day, 5 days/week)

  • AI allows for removing the time constraints on education

  • Learning can become more ad-hoc and follow natural curiosity

  • Education doesn't need to be confined to specific years in a person's life

Learning Through Knowledge Graphs (47:56-52:13)

  • Using AI to break down courses into concepts, topics and abstractions

  • Creating a "map" of both what exists to be learned and what a person knows

  • Navigating a personalized learning path from current knowledge to desired knowledge

  • AI can identify the optimal path through connected concepts for each individual

Purpose and Agency in Learning (34:40-37:40)

  • Discussion about how AI might force people to rediscover purpose beyond jobs

  • The relationship between agency and alignment with purpose

  • AI as a catalyst for pursuing learning aligned with personal interests

Democratizing High-Quality Education (52:13-56:33)

  • How AI can provide the benefits of one-to-one tutoring at scale

  • Using AI to create personalized explanations at appropriate complexity levels

  • The value of learning in context rather than in the abstract

  • Creating immersive, engaging learning experiences tailored to individual interests

Credentialism vs. Learning (01:01:56-01:15:03)

  • Questioning the value of credentials in a world of commoditized expertise

  • The shift from credential-based systems to meritocracy

  • "Show, don't tell" as a philosophy for demonstrating knowledge

  • The permissionless nature of learning with AI vs. permission-based traditional education

"You Can Just Learn Things" (01:11:12-01:15:06)

  • The democratizing power of AI in allowing anyone to learn anything

  • No need to wait for permission or formal instruction to pursue knowledge

  • How to use AI tools effectively for learning (even without sophisticated tooling)

  • The inevitable bifurcation between those who embrace self-directed AI learning and those who don't

Memorable Quotes:

  • "You can just learn things." (01:11:24)

  • "The beauty of play is it doesn't feel like work." (30:44)

  • "We spent most of our adult lives trying to track back to that childlike creativity." (31:04)

  • "I think education is going to change quite drastically." (01:01:30)

  • "It doesn't matter what we say to differentiate ourselves in a market. It's more about what we build and how we prove out the values we want to operate by." (09:27)

Check out more episodes

The Good Stuff is a low-fi dialogue with Pete Winn and Andy David.

 

Each week, we share our everyday experiences working with artificial intelligence and how it's fundamentally changing the rules of work and business, the economy, entrepreneurship, and human potential. We explore the ripple effects, unintended consequences, and emerging opportunities as AI transforms how we work and create, diving into the tools and technology we're using each week.

Expect a mix of chats out of the back of a van at the beach, walking interviews and general use of dialectic and discussion with insightful guests that lift the lid on complex topics. Chilled out, minimal jargon, authentic.

 

Connect With Us:

Email: info@otherstuff.studio

Pete: https://x.com/Pete_Winn

Andy: https://x.com/andymdavid

Transcript

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